Jarek Ruminski
Market Entry
The acquisition is complete.
The contracts are signed.
The press release says the companies have created a stronger international platform with significant synergies.
Excellent.
Now the difficult part begins.
When a Nordic company acquires a Polish business — or a Polish company acquires a Nordic one — the financial transaction may take months to negotiate. But much of the future value of that transaction can be influenced by what happens immediately afterwards.
The first 100 days matter because employees, managers, customers and suppliers are all asking variations of the same question:
“What does this mean for us?”
Poland and the Nordic countries already have deep commercial links. Poland's real GDP grew by 3.6% in 2025, and as one example of the relationship, more than 700 Swedish companies operate in Poland. Trade turnover between Sweden and Poland increased by more than 400% between 2004 and 2024.
The opportunity is substantial.
But buying a company and integrating one are very different skills.
A common post-merger instinct is:
“We now own the company. Let us make everything work like the parent company.”
New reporting.
New systems.
New policies.
New templates.
New approval processes.
New job titles.
Possibly a new PowerPoint explaining all the other new things.
Some changes will obviously be necessary.
But changing everything immediately can destroy exactly what made the acquired company valuable.
During the first weeks, separate three categories:
That distinction is important.
Integration is not the art of making two companies identical.
It is the art of making them work together.
Employees rarely begin the first morning after an acquisition wondering about EBITDA synergies.
They are thinking:
Is my job safe?
Will my manager change?
Will the office remain?
Will salaries or benefits change?
Who makes decisions now?
Why did they buy us?
What happens next?
Management should answer what it can immediately.
And where there is no answer yet, say so.
“No decision has been made yet. We expect to decide this by 30 September.”
That is better than vague reassurance.
Silence creates rumours.
And rumours are remarkably efficient communication systems.
Unfortunately, they rarely distribute the version management intended.
Your Day-One communication should therefore explain:
Why the transaction happened.
What will change immediately.
What will not change immediately.
Who is responsible for the integration.
How employees can raise questions.
When the next update will come.
Clarity creates stability.
Cross-border integrations become difficult when each side assumes the other side is responsible for making integration work.
The Polish team waits for instructions from Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki or Oslo.
The Nordic headquarters waits for the Polish organisation to “take ownership”.
Three weeks later everyone is taking ownership of waiting.
Create a joint integration team.
Include people from both organisations and from the functions where integration risk is greatest:
Give every major integration workstream a named owner.
Not:
“HR will look at this.”
But:
“Anna and Lars will present the proposed organisation structure by Day 35.”
Cross-border integration improves quickly when ownership becomes visible.
One of the fastest ways to create frustration is unclear authority.
The acquired managing director may believe they still control pricing.
The new group management may believe pricing now requires approval.
Sales assumes nothing has changed.
Finance assumes everything has changed.
The customer simply wants a quotation.
Create a decision map during the first few weeks.
Define who decides on:
Also define what remains local.
This is especially important when management traditions differ.
One organisation may be accustomed to explicit approval from senior managers. Another may expect employees to make decisions independently within an agreed mandate.
Neither system automatically wins.
But combining the two without explanation produces confusion.
Cross-border integration meetings can be dangerously polite.
Someone presents a new organisational structure.
Nobody objects.
Management concludes:
“Excellent. Everyone supports it.”
Possibly.
Or possibly not.
Different teams can express disagreement in different ways. Some challenge proposals immediately. Others raise concerns privately afterwards. Some expect management to decide. Others expect consultation before a decision becomes final.
Do not measure alignment by the absence of objections.
Ask specific questions.
Instead of:
“Is everybody comfortable with this?”
ask:
“What is the biggest operational risk in this proposal?”
Or:
“What would make this difficult to implement in Poland?”
Or:
“Which part should we change before we proceed?”
Good integration needs disagreement early.
Unspoken disagreement becomes implementation resistance later.
The spreadsheet may say you acquired:
€25 million revenue.
12% EBITDA.
Four production sites.
A strong customer portfolio.
What you may actually have acquired is:
Katarzyna, who knows every important customer.
Mikko, who understands the technology.
Anders, who built the distribution network.
Piotr, who knows why the production system behaves strangely every second Tuesday.
Lose enough of these people and the spreadsheet begins to look less impressive.
During the first 30 days, identify critical employees.
Not only executives.
Look for people with:
Then speak to them.
Ask what concerns them.
Ask what they believe must be protected.
Ask what frustrates them about the current organisation.
Ask what opportunity they see in the merger.
Retention is not only about bonuses.
People are more likely to remain when they can understand their future.
This is particularly important on the Nordic side of an integration.
Nordic labour-market systems place significant weight on collective agreements, employer organisations, unions and structured social dialogue, although the exact arrangements differ between Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.
Before changing organisational structures, employment conditions or major working practices, understand the relevant local requirements and agreements.
But good employee involvement goes beyond legal compliance.
Ask people who actually perform the work.
The headquarters integration team may have designed a beautiful new process.
The warehouse team may need approximately seven minutes to explain why it will not work.
Invite them before implementation.
It is cheaper.
Your merger may be the biggest event in your company this year.
For the customer, it may be Tuesday.
They still expect:
the delivery,
the support,
the account manager,
the invoice,
and the product to work.
During the first 30 days, identify important customers and suppliers and decide who should contact them.
Explain:
Do not force customers to experience your internal integration.
The best post-merger integration can appear surprisingly boring from the customer's perspective.
Everything continues working.
That is a compliment.
Technology quickly becomes symbolic after an acquisition.
Headquarters uses Microsoft.
The acquired company uses another platform.
Clearly civilisation cannot continue.
Except that replacing systems too quickly creates operational risk.
During the first 100 days, map:
Then classify each system.
Integrate immediately where security, compliance or business continuity requires it.
Connect temporarily where information must flow between organisations.
Replace later where migration requires proper planning.
The objective is business integration.
Not winning an international competition for fastest software migration.
Culture integration is often described incorrectly.
A Nordic buyer should not arrive in Poland with the message:
“We will teach you the Nordic way.”
A Polish buyer should not arrive in Sweden, Denmark, Finland or Norway saying:
“This is how we do things now.”
Both approaches generate resistance.
Instead ask:
What does the Polish organisation do exceptionally well?
What does the Nordic organisation do exceptionally well?
What behaviours should the combined company keep?
What behaviours should disappear?
What should be created together?
Perhaps the Polish organisation brings speed, commercial energy, technical competence and operational flexibility.
Perhaps the Nordic organisation contributes decentralised responsibility, structured governance, transparency or mature international processes.
The opportunity is not Poland versus the Nordics.
The opportunity is Poland plus the Nordics.
That is a very different integration philosophy.
The first month should reduce uncertainty.
Priorities should include:
Communicate the integration story.
Explain why the companies belong together.
Identify critical people.
Talk to them before competitors do.
Map customers and suppliers.
Protect commercial continuity.
Establish integration governance.
Create workstreams, owners and deadlines.
Map legal, HR and employee-relations requirements.
Do this before organisational changes are announced.
Identify immediate risks.
Cybersecurity, contracts, cash flow, customer dependency, systems, compliance and key-person risk belong near the top of the list.
Do not try to redesign the entire company.
First make sure it continues working.
Now the organisations should begin working together.
Create joint teams.
Align financial reporting.
Define decision rights.
Connect key systems where necessary.
Review the customer portfolio.
Identify cross-selling opportunities.
Compare supplier agreements.
Start sharing knowledge across locations.
But also look for quick wins.
Perhaps the Polish organisation can support Nordic customers.
Perhaps Nordic distribution can open new markets for Polish products.
Perhaps procurement volumes can be combined.
Perhaps engineering teams can solve a problem together.
Employees need to see that the merger creates something useful.
A synergy spreadsheet is interesting.
A real customer won together is better.
By this stage, the conversation should slowly change.
From:
“Your company and our company.”
Toward:
“Our company.”
Now management can begin addressing longer-term questions:
Which systems should become group standards?
Which functions should remain local?
Which processes should be harmonised?
Where should investment increase?
Which products should be combined?
Where are duplicated activities?
Which leaders will shape the next phase?
What should the organisation look like twelve months from now?
Some decisions will be difficult.
That is normal.
The goal of Day 100 is not to finish integration.
It is to make the direction credible.
Successful post-merger integration between Poland and the Nordic countries is not primarily about translating organisational charts.
It is about translating expectations.
Clarify why the deal happened.
Reduce uncertainty.
Protect key people.
Define decision rights.
Listen before standardising.
Understand local employment structures.
Keep customers stable.
Integrate systems according to risk rather than enthusiasm.
Create visible early wins.
And build a new organisation rather than declaring one side the winner.
Poland and the Nordic countries can be highly complementary business environments. Poland has experienced strong economic growth and continues to attract Nordic companies and investment, while Nordic businesses bring extensive international experience and established management and labour-market structures.
But complementarity does not integrate itself.
Someone has to turn it into daily behaviour.
That is what the first 100 days are for.
Aurixon helps companies understand how business works between Poland and the Nordic countries.
Our guides and advisory services focus on the practical factors that influence cross-border business: leadership, communication, decision-making, negotiation, workplace culture, market entry and integration.
Because signing the acquisition agreement creates ownership. Building one functioning organisation creates value.
References and Further Reading:
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